Bid Window Opens for DMEPOS Competitive Bidding Program

The Competitive Bidding process is now open to bid submissions for the Round 1 Rebid of the Medicare DMEPOS Competitive Bidding Program. All bids must be submitted in DBidS, the on-line bidding system, by 9 p.m. prevailing Eastern Time on December 21, 2009; all required hardcopy documents that must be included as part of the bid package must be postmarked by 11:59 p.m. on December 21, 2009. The contract period for all product categories except mail order diabetic supplies is for three years (January 1, 2011 – December 31, 2013); for mail order diabetic supplies, the contract period is two years (January 1, 2011 – December 31, 2012).

When devising a bid strategy, a supplier should be aware of that CMS and the Competitive Bidding Implementation Contractor (CBIC) changed the rules midstream several times during the last bidding process. Suppliers that submitted too early were prejudiced because they were not able to change their bids to incorporate any new guidance. For this reason, suppliers may not want to submit their bids too early in the process. However, it is also not wise to wait until the very last minute to submit a bid. Many suppliers encountered significant problems with bid submissions during the original Round 1 bid. Accordingly, suppliers should leave themselves enough time to be able to address any submission problems without running up against the hard deadline, currently set at December 21.

Finally, suppliers should be aware that the “covered document review date” (CDRD) for bidders to submit financial documents is November 21, one month before the current close of the bidding window. The benefit of submitting a bid by this date is that, if the supplier’s bid is missing hard copy financial documentation, the CBIC cannot throw out the bid, but instead is obligated to (1) notify the supplier that its bid is missing certain financial documentation within 45 days of the CDRD, and (2) give the supplier 10 days from the date of the CBIC’s notification to submit what is missing. This only applies to the hard copy financial documentation requested as part of the bid (e.g. income statements, credit report, balance sheets, etc.); the CBIC will not notify a supplier of any missing bid information on Forms A or B, regardless of when the supplier’s bid is submitted.

Suppliers should carefully consider all the information above when devising a bid strategy.

For more information on the DMEPOS Competitive Bidding Program, please visit http://www.dmecompetitivebid.com.